Watch This With Rick Ramos

On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I tackle one of the great all-time musical comparisons. This week we look at the lives of The (So-Named) King of Rock 'N Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley and The (Equally Ridiculously Named) King of Pop, Michael Joseph Jackson.  When Ibrahim & I started thinking about the lives of these two incredible artists it became obvious that we would have to turn the microphone on and get our thoughts down. From their equally humble beginnings, incredibly swift and lightning-like rise, ground-breaking and revolutionary roles in popular music, and - ultimately - tragic, drug-induced deaths, it would be difficult to ignore the similarities. To get this episode down we take a look at Kenny Ortega's This Is It, chronicling Michael Jackson's rehearsals for his final concert tour, Jackson's numerous ground-breaking videos, as well as Elvis' '68 Comeback Concert, Elvis Aloha From Hawaii, and Don Coscarelli's Bubba-Ho-Tep. We hope you find this talk interesting.  Thanks for the love and continued support. Questions, Problems, Suggestions, and Good Words can be directed to gondoramos@yahoo.com.  Thanks! 

Direct download: ElvisMichael.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:56am EDT

On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I take a look at The Game . . . specifically The Hustling Game of The American Pimp.  For this we take a look at Jerry Schatzberg's Street Smart, featuring Christopher Reeve and phenomenal performances by Kathy Baker and (in one of his last villainous roles) Morgan Freeman as Leo "Fast Black" Smalls. In order to do this subject right we have to focus on non-fiction and we were lucky to find a handful of great documentaries, starting with Nick Broomfield's Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, The Hughes' Bros. American Pimp, and Jorge Hinojosa's Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp. Three wildly different takes on this controversial and polarizing subject.  Take a listen and let us know what you think.  Questions, Comments, Problems, & Suggestions can be directed to gondoramos@yahoo.com.  As always, thanks for your continued love and support. 

Direct download: Pimpin.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:44pm EDT

Ibrahim & I have come to the end of our journey to The Crossroads. On this week's episode of WatchThis w/RickRamos we wrap up our discussion of this great American Music. We discuss the music's growth and transformation from a rural Delta sound to an industrial Chicago worldwide force. We focus on the change in the music, but we also look at individual artists including Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, but also lesser known artists such as Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, and "Screamin'" Jay Hawkins. We talk Elvis Presley - and there's a hell of a lot to be said there. Of course we talk the man who captured my fascination and drew me into The Blues . . . The Boogie Man, Mr. John Lee Hooker.  These three episodes - these 6 hours - mean the world to us. We had a great time preparing for this episode and an even better time recording it. We hope you enjoy it as well. As always, thanks for the love and continued support. Comments, Support, Problems, & Suggestions can be directed to gondoramos@yahoo.com.  Thanks!

Direct download: TheBluesIII.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:16am EDT

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